


the quest for popularity

by lifeofafandomatic



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Crossover, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Inspired by Faking It (TV 2014), Skimmons Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-25 11:49:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7531654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeofafandomatic/pseuds/lifeofafandomatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an attempt to become popular at S.H.I.E.L.D. High School, best friends Jemma and Skye pretend to come out as a lesbian couple. However, after a public kiss to defend their ruse, Jemma realises that her feelings for Skye are more complex than she first believed. // Faking It-inspired AU for day two of Skimmons Week.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the quest for popularity

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to get something done for @staliahs’ Skimmons Week, and the day 2 prompt was perfect for me because I am obsessed with fake dating AUs. This fic was loosely inspired by the pilot episode of MTV’s Faking It, which you should definitely check out (after reading this fic of course). I’m still amazed that I got this done in time, so I hope you enjoy it!

Jemma woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating on her bedside table. The clock beside her flashed the digits _06:07_ , even though her alarm wasn’t meant to go off until 6:30. Wondering who could possibly be calling so early, she picked up the phone and answered the call with a sleepy “hello?”

“Happy first day of school!” Skye chirped on the other end.

“And I thought I was the early bird,” Jemma groaned, heaving herself out of bed. “What is it?”

“I just came up with a new plan. I think it’s really gonna work this time.”

“Another one? Why are you so obsessed with this?”

“Jemma, it’s our last year at S.H.I.E.L.D. High. We’re seniors now! We have to end our high school careers with a bang, and what better way to do that than being with the in crowd?”

Jemma sighed as she sifted through her closet. This had always been Skye’s dream, to become popular through her very odd (and highly unsuccessful) schemes. Although Jemma never really approved of them, she was always there to support her best friend. “Okay, how can you be sure it’s going to work?”

“Because it has never happened in the school’s history.”

“Well, what is it?”

“We’re gonna pretend to be dating.” Jemma was speechless for so long that she distantly heard Skye’s voice asking, “Hey, are you still there?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m here.” Jemma took a deep breath before adding, “I don’t think this is going to work.”

“Have a little faith in me, Jemma; of course it will! Our school’s never had a lesbian couple before. Besides, we’re best friends, aren’t we? It shouldn’t be too hard to pretend we’re dating.”

“Uh, you’re forgetting something: we’re not gay. Don’t you think people would know?”

“Jemma. People hardly notice us. Once we officially come out to them as a couple, they’ll think we’ve been doing this for _years_. Trust me, this is going to work.”

“Fine,” Jemma finally agreed, “if that’s what you really want.”

“Thank you!” Skye squealed. “This is our ticket in, I can feel it. I’ll see you soon, babe! Did that sound convincing?”

“Yes, Skye,” Jemma chuckled. “I’ll see you at school.”

~*~

They walked into the school building swinging their clasped hands together, giddy smiles on their faces as they made their way through the hallways. “It’s working; I can feel them watching,” Skye whispered, and sure enough Jemma could see the gathered students staring at them curiously. She almost allowed her smile to falter, but she reminded herself that she was doing this for Skye, she had to.

“Skye, Jemma. Hey.” They turned around to face a petite girl in a flower dress whom Jemma belatedly identified as Raina. She was a mostly quiet but very intelligent kid who somehow knew everything that happened in their school. The general consensus was that if you needed gossip, Raina was the one to hunt down.

“Hey,” Skye greeted. “What up?”

Raina glanced down at their interwoven hands and cocked an eyebrow. “What’s up with you two?”

“She’s my girlfriend,” Skye answered confidently, very clearly taking advantage of the exchange.

“Girlfriend, huh?” Jemma noticed the crowd beginning to gather around them and felt her pulse quicken. Skye might have been living for the attention, but Jemma certainly wasn’t. She turned her focus back to the conversation at hand just in time to hear Raina say, “It’s just something I wouldn’t have expected.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Skye snapped.

“Are you harassing the gays, Raina?” A pair of leather jacket-clad boys strode towards them, the crowd easily parting to make way. It was hard not to notice the members of the group of popular kids who called themselves ‘The Warriors’.

“None of your business,” Raina snapped. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other places to be.” She strode quickly down the hall, earning a bemused look from the boys.

“Ladies, I am terribly sorry,” the shorter one said once Raina had disappeared from view. “I’m Joey.”

“Mack,” the second one added. “And you girls are…?”

“Skye. This is my girlfriend, Jemma.”

“You know,” Joey said thoughtfully, “I’ve been craving some lesbian energy lately. You girls should join us for lunch.”

“Really?” Skye asked, visibly perking up. This was her dream, finally coming true.

“ _Sí_.” Joey nodded. “I’m sure the others wouldn’t mind.”

“Thank you for the invitation,” Jemma said kindly, “but we have to get going. Come on, babe.” Skye gave them a cheerful wave as Jemma dragged her away. Once they were out of earshot, she hissed, “You can’t possibly want to continue with this ruse.”

“Shhh!” Skye shoved her into a nearby bathroom, away from the bustling back-to-school crowds. “Nobody can know that we’re faking it. _Nobody._ It’s been 15 minutes and we’ve already been invited to hang out with the Warriors! It doesn’t get much better than that.”

“And what if they found out we’re lying? You heard Joey! He’s ‘craving lesbian energy,’ whatever that means. You really want to be the one to tell him that we’re not really lesbians?”

“He’ll never find out.”

“Sure he won’t.” Jemma rolled her eyes and made her way out of the bathroom. Why did  she ever think this plan would be a good idea? It had seemed like one an hour ago. She felt someone grab her hand and met Skye’s pleading eyes.

“Jemma, please,” she begged, eyes scanning the hallway. It seemed that Raina worked quickly to spread this information, as Jemma heard scattered whispers of, “That’s Skye and Jemma. They’re the lesbians.”

Not wanting to cause a scene, Jemma mumbled her agreement followed by, “I have to get going, but I’ll see you soon.” She quickly kissed Skye on the cheek before heading towards her assigned homeroom, the bell ringing shrilly around her.

~*~

Jemma picked at her lunch as Skye chatted easily with the rest of the Warriors. She wasn’t sure how her best friend had never talked these kids, the way she so seamlessly fit in with them. Jemma, on the other hand, felt like an outsider, like she was only there out of pity. She knew the other Warriors, had heard stories and rumours about their successes, and knew she was nowhere near as badass as them. After all, when you’ve been as invisible as she and Skye had been in their past three years of high school, it becomes easier to pick up information about the people around you.

Mack, for instance, was an extremely skilled mechanic and was often found in the parking lot after school tinkering with his car. It was said that Bobbi had a sports scholarship she was thinking of declining to pursue forensic science instead. Likewise, Lincoln was applying for med school, and with the grades he was rumoured to pull Jemma had no doubt he would make it. She overheard Joey once say he wanted to help LGBTQ latino youth in the US, while Elena hoped to return to her native Colombia to combat corruption. Even Skye was an expert hacker and wanted to join a computer science program in college.

All these kids hoping to do amazing things, and she was just Jemma Simmons, biochemist in the making.

They spent every lunch that week with the Warriors, who supposedly welcomed them both with open arms but seemed to enjoy Skye’s company more than they enjoyed Jemma’s. The only time she’d ever felt included was when Bobbi and Lincoln started complaining about their biology teacher, and everything went great until Bobbi’s infamous on-again-off-again boyfriend Lance crashed the table and Jemma was back to being invisible.

On Friday, Jemma chewed her sandwich silently as she struggled to follow the conversation. They were discussing plans for homecoming, which had frankly never held any interest for her. She eventually tuned them out, hoping to mentally review some key formulas for their upcoming math test, but she was snapped out of her thoughts by someone saying, “Why don’t you guys run for homecoming royalty?”

Her head snapped up to lock eyes with the speaker. Bobbi watched them with curiosity and a spark of hope in her eyes, her mouth curved in an innocent grin. The rest of the Warriors watched on expectantly, and Jemma realised that other people around them were blatantly eavesdropping. She hated the attention, but of course Skye had to reply, “That’s a great idea! Babe, we should totally do it.”

Before Jemma could refuse, Mack cut in, “This would be the first time in S.H.I.E.L.D. High’s history that there would ever be a same-gender couple as homecoming royalty.”

“I heard Grant and Kara are running together,” Elena added. “You two would win by a landslide; everyone loves you already.”

“All hail the queens,” Joey chanted quietly, and soon the chant was roaring in Jemma’s ears as everyone around them cried out in support of her and Skye. She turned to face her best friend, doubt filling her thoughts, but the excited look on Skye’s face was enough to plaster a grin on her face and accept the support from people who had never given them a second glance.

~*~

“You gotta admit, this is _really_ working out for us.”

Skye was lying on Jemma’s bed Sunday afternoon, a permanent grin spread across her face as she scrolled through her phone replying to messages from their newfound friends. Jemma hummed distractedly as she deleted message notifications from the very same people.

“You’re upset,” Skye noticed immediately, abandoning her phone to sit upright and face Jemma. “Want to tell me why?”

“It’s this whole situation,” Jemma confessed. “It doesn’t feel right to me.”

“Are you serious? In one week, we jumped straight from being nobodies to being part of the Warriors _and_ been nominated homecoming queens. _One week!_ It would take most people _years_ to get to this level of cool. Being gay is the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”

“It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you,” Jemma snapped, surprised even at her own temper. “I never wanted any of this. I just followed along because you’re my best friend and I want you to be happy.”

Skye was silent for a while, staring at her as if she didn’t recognise her. Finally, she grasped Jemma’s hand tightly and said, “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I can’t go back to being just Skye. I care way too much about what the others think of me, and being gay is finally making me interesting. Well, a pretend gay, anyways.”

“That’s not true,” Jemma said instantly, her previous anger abandoned. “You’re one of the most interesting people I know, but…I can empathise with what you’re feeling. Although normally I hate being involved in your bad girl shenanigans, I’ll continue to help you.”

She felt herself being squeezed into a tight hug, her best friend shrieking “thank you!” into her ear. They pulled apart, and Skye added, “We’ll just see how this plays out. Once we solidify our fame, I promise we can fake-break up if that’s what you want.”

“Really?”

“Of course. We’re in such a good place right now. In between our friendship with the Warriors, our growing popularity and the added bonus of being crowned homecoming queens, we are going to have the best senior year _ever._ ”

~*~

Homecoming assembly was as dull as Jemma expected it to be. Grant and Kara were giving a speech about why they should be the new homecoming royals, and Principal Coulson was smiling politely and nodding. Vice Principal May, on the other hand, looked as bored as Jemma felt. At least that made two of them.

Jemma turned her attention to the couple on the stage. Grant was already rumoured to have done some terrible shit over the summer, and Kara had apparently gotten into some sort of serious accident, but nobody knew what it was. Although she had always been invisible like Skye and Jemma, she was sweet and considerate. Now there seemed to be something darker about her, the way she watched the crowd from behind Grant’s shoulder and how she clung to him like a lifeline.

“Kara and I believe in upholding tradition,” Grant was saying. “In upholding the pattern of values that have been passed down to us. So, a vote for us is a vote for tradition.”

“Thank you, Grant and Kara, for that wonderful speech,” Principal Coulson said as a few scattered claps came from the people in Grant’s crew. Elena was right, it seemed; she and Skye were going to win by a landslide. “And now we’ll hear from S.H.I.E.L.D. High’s very first same-gender candidates for homecoming royalty, Skye Johnson and Jemma Simmons!”

In a complete contrast to Grant and Kara, the auditorium erupted into applause, with several cheers and whistles sprinkled amongst the crowd. From the front row, Bobbi excitedly held up a sign with  _ #Skimmons 4 Homecoming Queens! _ and Jemma couldn’t help but giggle at the combined name she and Skye were given. As the noise died down, the auditorium doors burst open followed by a frantic call of “Wait!”

Raina rushed inside, breathing heavily. “Can I just say something?” she gasped. ”I think you all should know: they’re not really lesbians. They’re just pretending to be lesbians so that all of you would like them! I heard them in the bathroom the other day!”

“Raina, stop that,” Vice Principal May demanded, snatching the microphone away. The auditorium fell so silent you could hear a pin drop, the spell only broken by Principal Coulson asking, “Skye, Jemma, is this true?”

Poor Skye looked like a deer caught in headlights. Jemma could almost see her hopes for the rest of their year crumbling in her eyes. The Warriors watched them in stunned silence, and was that a hint of hurt in Joey’s eyes? “We can explain.” Skye began.

“If we’re faking it,” Jemma cut in on impulse, “would I do this?” Before she could lose her nerve, she grabbed Skye and kissed her squarely on the mouth. Distantly, she could hear the cheering start up again, but all she could focus on was the feeling of Skye’s lips on hers and  _. _

“Whoa,” Skye breathed as they broke apart. 

“I know,” Jemma said, just as awestruck as her best friend, if not more so. 

A beat passed before Skye winked at her and whispered, “Way to sell it.” As she waved at their adoring crowd, Jemma struggled to keep her breathing even as the realisation hit her. 

_ I’m in love with my best friend.  _


End file.
